Don’t get alarmed! Below is a stroll down memory lane. . . a blog post from January 27th, 2016. Remember the City ordinance to control the out-of-control behavior in the Downtown Cultural Plaza at night? Remember the ‘Curfew?’ that was never a “curfew” at all?

The word “curfew” is an example of what’s called loaded language. Note that the reporter never used the word “curfew” in the text of the article. Hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane, to Jan. 27th, 2016:

Remember People: Don’t Get Upset! If you see the protesters just smile and say “Hi!”. Bring an extra umbrella for them or maybe a small item from World Thrift. Don't act like ‘Mr. Snarky’. As an ordinary citizen you can’t say much but you’ll have your chance on election day [March 2016]. So sit back and chill and focus on other things like getting our roads fixed and street corners lit so you feel safe going out at night. [emphasis added]According to a press report some protesters are coming to Lake Worth to protest an ordinance to help keep our Cultural Plaza clean. What’s happening is at night some people are defecating and urinating in the Plaza. People who use the Plaza have had enough and they sought the help from Mayor Triolo, Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell, and Commissioner Amoroso and they did. They looked at all the options and created an ordinance.Before most of the public uses the Plaza all the waste left there has to be cleaned up. So you never have to see it. And likely some public employees are on overtime. So you the public get a double-whammy. Not only does the Plaza have to be cleaned each morning but then have to pay the added cost to have all this work done.Remember, Commissioner Ryan Maier thinks all that activity at night is “not that big a deal”. What do you think?The protesters ostensibly are trying to help the homeless. But a whole lot of people think there’s something entirely different going on.

[And the election results from March 2016? Well, let's just say the public spoke. Clear and loud. Mayor Pam Triolo, Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell, and Andy Amoroso were all re-elected by landslide margins.]

Friday, January 20, 2017

First, Thank You to the Atlanta Braves organization for considering John Prince Park. And when you meet other baseball executives looking for a new home for their Spring Training needs remember what the Post reporter Joe Capozzi wrote in April 2016:

“Braves supporters, wearing blue tomahawk T-shirts and holding ‘Bring Home the
Braves’ signs, outnumbered opponents of the park plan by a 3-to-1 margin at two separate public meetings.”

I’m not upset any more and you shouldn’t be upset either. You win some. You lose some.

However, John Prince Park has received so much attention far and wide and wouldn’t be surprised one bit to learn another team (or teams) have their eyes on it. The optimism and strong support from the cities of Lake Worth, Palm Springs, Greenacres, and Atlantis brought all of this area in Palm Beach County closer together and that hasn’t gone unnoticed. We’re all in this together.

[City Manager] Michael Bornstein, Your an A@&h#le plain and simple . . . the trashing of you will be worse and worse. . . . God should be the judge of all of you.

Don’t lose your cool. That’s what the other side does all the time.

And whatever you do don’t fall into the trap of turning on any elected official OVER ONE ISSUE! If it’s true County Commissioner Dave Kerner opposed baseball in John Prince Park, so what? Over all these years how many times has he stood with our City,fought for and with us? Too many times to count.

But the most important thing to remember is this: Many on the County level acknowledge that many areas in Central Palm Beach County have been neglected and ignored for too many years. Those areas are the Lake Worth Corridor, many blighted areas in Lake Worth west of I-95, parts of the Town of Palm Springs, and many other areas in unincorporated PBC between the City of Greenacres and the City of Lake Worth.

The debate over baseball in John Prince Park has changed all that. And that’s a good thing. Don’t forget that.

Tonight at Evening on the Avenues in the Cultural Plaza also brings The String Assassins with Live Music on the stage and also meet Lake Worth’s own Green Thumb, Brian Kirsch, from the Gray Mockingbird Community Garden.

Join the NAPC Front Porch at the Cultural Plaza in our outstanding Downtown. All the fun starts at 6:00. “Hmmm. What neighborhood assoc. is mine?” For the answer use this link and look for “Where’s Your Lake Worth Neighborhood”.

About tonight from the NAPC: “Win FREE tickets to Garlic Fest, the Best Stinkin’ Party in South Florida! Color one of our Garlic Fest posters to enter the drawing to win two (2) free tickets good for Friday, Saturday or Sunday at Garlic Fest, February 10th, 11th and 12th. The Front Porch will also have fresh hot popcorn, board games, comfy chairs, food and craft vendors and always Friendly Neighbors!”

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Please note: The next City Commission meeting is Tuesday, January 24th. The agenda is not yet available but should be some time tomorrow. Public comment at Commission meetings has improved drastically over the last several years but there’s still room for improvement. For example,

“Be polite when the bell rings. If you haven’t finished your comment, hand your card to City Manager Bornstein and ask him to have it entered into the record. Your card will be given to the City Clerk.”

Without further ado, an excellent example how to give public comment:

Meet Cathy Turk. The next time you approach or engage an elected official or City staff, try using her approach (see video below) when you have a criticism or a suggestion to improve our community.

This City resident is one of those living in a nearby neighborhood very concerned about a Wawa possibly being constructed at 10th Ave. North and ‘A’ Street. For the latest on that use this link.

But that’s not what I want you to focus on. Cathy Turk is also not pleased with how the City responds to emails and phone calls. But. . . note how she approached this problem, which in all fairness is something Yours Truly hears about all the time. Turk doesn’t get angry. She doesn’t point fingers. And she doesn’t put anyone “on the hot seat”.

She comes up with a possible solution. How novel an idea! Read the bullet list and then watch the video for yourself:

At the 10:50 mark (click play and go to the minute marks) she begins her comment at the January 10th City Commission meeting.

At the 11:50 mark she begins speaking about the issue of unanswered emails and phone calls.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The City of Lake Worth is hosting a public engagement meeting on January 19th
regarding the 2nd Ave. South Project. The segment of 2nd Ave. South from
Dixie to Federal highways is in severe structural disrepair. The purpose
of the 2nd Ave. South project is to undertake a full roadway
reconstruction. The project is being partially funded through the
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The January 19th
meeting will allow members of the community to engage with City
personnel and the project engineers to address community needs/concerns
that may be incorporated into the project’s design. Please contact Lake Worth Public Services (561-586-1720) with any questions or comments.

Located
in central Palm Beach County, Lake Worth is a dynamic, multi-cultural
city with an individualistic style. People are drawn to the City by its
acceptance of different cultures and lifestyles, historic districts,
hip downtown and colorful arts district.

Remember the mobile home park story in the Post last year that made such a big splash? Well, there are a few problems with the reporting of that story. It’s because of reporting like this that some newspapers have what’s called an ombudsman, or “public editor”. From Wikipedia:

The job of the public editor is to supervise the implementation of proper journalism ethics at a newspaper, and to identify and examine critical errors or omissions, and to act as a liaison to the public. They do this primarily through a regular feature on a newspaper's editorial page.

The retraction was only available for the Post’s online readers and never made it into the print edition, which is ironic, because it was in the print edition where most of their readers saw the story in the first place. To see this for yourself, use this link to see the story in the Post by Kevin Thompson (click on image to enlarge).

Remember when the reporter, Kevin Thompson, first reported this story and City officials, the Sheriff, and many others dropped everything they were doing to go there and help?

The Palm Beach Mobile Home Park in the City of Lake Worth, just east of the Park of Commerce, has had issues for many years now. Here is a link to a blog post last February but the problems go back much further than that. For example, here’s another blog post from 2010 during a prior City administration which touched on drainage and flooding problems in that area of the City.It’s crucially important to remember this mobile home park is private property, including the roads, owned and managed by a company responsible for addressing the issues there. Everyone, including myself, wishes the best for every resident there. However, the City already has its hands full maintaining and fixing our own public infrastructure and to finally after many years get the Park of Commerce to contribute to our City’s tax base like it should have been doing all along—tax money that could have been fixing our potholes.

Also note the City was never part of a “forced relocation” of those residents, as was reported by CBS12/WPEC. All this is another good example why you need to be skeptical of the local news media where ratings and selling newspapers, for some, not all, takes a back seat to the truth, the facts, and yes, political objectives.

Feel the urge to write a Letter to the Editor? It’s actually very easy: Use this link.

But there’s still the matter of those recent emails sent from the president and vice president of ROLO neighborhood (acronym explained below), located on the outskirts of the City. Here are short excepts from those emails, ROLO’s president channeling former Commissioner Cara Jennings:

[City Manager] Michael Bornstein, Your an A@&h#le plain and simple . . . the trashing of you will be worse and worse. . . . God should be the judge of all of you.

Lake Worth’s “Mayor Pam” Triolo wearing an Atlanta Braves baseball cap doing her best to promote Lake Worth. Now hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane to April 2016, the hapless travails of the stumbling malcontents of ROLO:

This quite funny blog postbelow is from last April when “the pulling of hair” was at its apex over a Spring Training facility in John Prince Park (stay tuned, remember, “It ain’t over til it’s over!”). Palm Beach Post reporter Joe Capozzi penned a quite humorous article about what happened in 2016. . . ironically, an effort that began a few days earlier, on April Fools Day.

It’s time to get excited again!!! And as always, Thank You for visiting my Lake Worth blog.

A small group in Lake Worth called the Residences (not to be confused with “Residents”) of Lake Osborne (ROLO) had more “bumps in the road” as you’ll read in a quite humorous article by Joe Capozzi of the The Insider blog later on in this blog post.

First a refresher: ROLO’s claim of representing the Lake Osborne neighborhood located west of I-95 and south of Lake Worth Road has been debunked. That debunking happened when they falsely claimed that most of that neighborhood was against a Braves Spring Training facility in John Prince Park (located in unincorporated Palm Beach County). Not only is their elected city commissioner, Scott Maxwell, a proponent of the idea but also many families and other “residences” that have actual residents are as well.

ROLO later tried to make this seem it was all a matter of confusion and miscommunication that they were claiming to represent people they weren’t actually representing. If you think it couldn’t get any worse for ROLO, well, it does. Much worse. Remember that truck with the billboard?

There still remain many unanswered questions about that billboard. Who paid for it? Did it violate state law by not having a proper disclaimer? And is it proper for any ‘neighborhood’ organization to misrepresent the political views of their neighbors?

Now for the news from Capozzi. That billboard was courtesy of a company in Miami! Not kidding. They couldn’t find a local company? The truck broke down on the long ride up here. Also, not kidding. Plus the good folks at ROLO neglected to mention two things to the poor fellas who were tasked with driving the truck: You can’t drive billboards through John Prince Park (Ooops!) and there’s that little matter of a low-clearance bridge too (Double Ooops!).

Here are two excerpts from the article that is actually quite humorously written:

“Protesting with a 12-ft.-plus-high billboard in John Prince Park has its challenges. Opponents of an idea to build a spring training complex for the Atlanta Braves in the public park west of Lake Worth hired a company to pull the billboard with a truck.”

[and. . .]

“But the billboard arrived six hours late from Miami because the truck that was pulling it broke down Friday on Interstate 95. Once it arrived at the park, around 5 p.m. Friday, the truck had to
change one of the routes. Turns out the billboard was too high to fit
under the Six Avenue South bridge that passes above Lake Osborne Drive –
an 11-ft. clearance. Then on Saturday, park rangers chased the truck off of the roads within the park, citing policy and safety issues.”

*You may have heard about an area in Lake Worth referred to as the, “Hermit Kingdom”. That is a very small area within the borders of ROLO. Upon making crucial decisions for people who have no knowledge of decisions being made for them, the Hermit Kingdom has been known to send smoke signals, white and black. No one knows what the signals mean. This may pose a problem, however, for outfielders trying to catch a long ball hit in the future.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

This is the program from the event last night (click on image to enlarge):

To learn more about the Boynton Beach Historical Society use this link. A special thanks to M. Randall Gill, the Boynton Beach Historical Society President, to Anne Rimler, First Vice President, and to everyone else on the board and staff who made this event so successful.

“The Cottages of Lake Worth” team led by the book coordinator, Janice Snearer, arrived just after 6:00 to set up. When I arrived a short time later was greeted by an already full parking lot. Once inside the room where the presentation was to take place it was filling up fast. Before long chairs were being carried down from the second floor. Again and again.

Janice Snearer (center) shows off the book after it arrived last November to Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein and to Dolores Key, the City’s Economic Development Director.

We soon found out, even before the event was to begin, there were many more people in attendance than their average meeting. By the time I started with the presentation there were over 100 people in the room. Janice brought along books to sell and those 20 were gone in short order. If another 20 books were available many of those would have been sold as well judging by the line at the table.

My presentation went for about 40 minutes and I was able to delve into the reasons why the cottages exist, spanning much of 20th century here in south Florida. Questions were asked and answered at the end of the presentation, all very good. And there was that question as well, “Are you the Wes Blackman that worked for Donald. . .?”

The Boynton Beach Historical Society was a great host and the staff was on top of everything. It was my pleasure to share some of the best that Lake Worth has to offer. Once again, I am honored to have been given the opportunity.

As a thank you for coming to speak, I was given a bag containing several items including, “Images of America: Boynton Beach”, by M. Randall Gill in conjunction with the Boynton Beach City Library and “Boynton Beach: The First Hundred Years”, produced by the Boynton Beach Historical Society and Friends of the Boynton Beach Library.

Our cities of Lake Worth and Boynton Beach share a long and proud history.

This was the first showing of “The Cottages” PowerPoint presentation. Judging by the feedback it was very well received. I’ll let everyone know when another presentation is scheduled in the future. Thank you everyone for coming out last night.

The blog post below is from June 2015. After watching a recent and very disturbing 60 Minutes episode about the murder rate in Chicagothought it might be time for some in the news media to ask themselves some tough questions. And communities all over Palm Beach County are already asking tough questions: How to better address crime and the interaction between law enforcement and the public? And of course, the heroin epidemic is affecting everyone in one way or another. What’s the best way to respond to that? It’s not all bad news. There is some good news as well about the homicide rate in PBC last year. Look in the right-hand column for “109 Tragedies in 2015, 87 in 2016. In 2017. . .” The blog post from 2015 follows:

Everyone has heard or seen something and formed their opinions on The Palm Beach Post’s “LINE OF FIRE: Bullets and badges, death on the street!” It was nearly impossible to ignore the constant drumbeat. One particular Sunday paper stood out:

The headline could have been “Leaders Urging Calm”.

In the wake of Ferguson and Baltimore many communities are looking for answers. An article in The Atlantic titled “What’s Causing Baltimore’s Crime Spike?” takes on some very troubling issues. One excerpt stands out:

A widely read May 29 column by Heather Mac Donald tried to place Baltimore’s crime surge in a national context. Citing increases in crime in other cities across the nation, Mac Donald argues that what we’re witnessing is a “Ferguson effect,” as police get nervous about enforcing laws and criminals feel more leeway to, well, do some crimes.

People and communities can debate the “LINE OF FIRE!” any which way. But what if the result is ultimately deputies and police officers more concerned about their face on the news than on doing their jobs? Or would law enforcement, even without realizing it, avoid high crime areas and high-risk situations for fear a Post reporter is around the corner with a notepad in hand?

There are neighborhoods in the City of Lake Worth that have too much crime for many reasons and they deserve protection. The near constant anti-Sheriff stories in the news media purportedly done to give more protections to citizens may end up having the opposite effect: putting many in our poorest and most at-risk communities in even more danger.

No one is suggesting the news media be cheerleaders for Sheriff Bradshaw and PBSO. But it’s also not healthy for our community to have the media treating PBSO like an adversary. An editorial in the Post dealt with law enforcement biases; maybe it’s time the editorial board and the Post examine their own.

Stay tuned for videos of last night's (1/16) candidate forum. Sources tell me Omari Hardy was the big star of the night, generating the most excitement. And Chris McVoy, PhD, the incumbent, showed up late. Anyone surprised?

Remember, ever since 2011 when a former commissioner in District 2, Cara Jennings, passed her baton to Chris McVoy, he’s gotten elected over and over again. Why? Name recognition. That’s it. Is it about time for a change? Also, ALL VOTERS in Lake Worth vote for ALL district commissioners.

Want to learn more about Omari Hardy? See below for his phone number, email, Facebook page and more. “Say Yes to Progress”.

Mr. Hardy is facing an uphill battle. He’s challenging Commissioner
Chris McVoy who has name recognition, an army of people from
outside the City who will come in and knock on doors, and it’s a certainty he’ll receive the endorsement from The Palm Beach Post editorial board. That’s a given.

And, unlike in previous elections, voters need to hold McVoy accountable: Ever since he was hand-picked to represent District 2 by former Commissioner Cara Jennings back in 2010 he’s been very careful not to “stick his neck out”. Leadership is not McVoy’s strong point. His talent is criticizing anyone who takes the lead. And when issues do come up that someone with a PhD would be helpful solving? McVoy goes into the role of obstructionist instead.

Up against “name recognition” does McVoy’s challenger, Omari Hardy, have any chance of winning the election on March 14th? Yes. But it will be a tough slog:

Omari Hardy, and his supporters, have to knock on a lot of doors. A lot.

He has to explain his vision over and over again, and. . .

. . . not rely just on mailers, or social media as well, to explain his positions.

He needs community support.

And, most importantly, explain the reason why he would be a better choice to represent this City than McVoy.

If all that happens, and more, Mr. Hardy stands a chance. Want to learn more about Omari Hardy? Interested in helping him? Here’s how:

Monday, January 16, 2017

[The entire blog post from last year, prior to the March 2016 elections, follows with emphasis added. Remember the Anarchist candidate Ryan Hartman? He lost in a landslide and partly blamed Lake Worth beat reporter Kevin Thompson, saying the reporter “lied in two of his articles”. Hartman’s entire concession following the March 2016 election can be read using this link. Hope you enjoy this “look back” and remember the bond referendum to fix our roads passed overwhelmingly last November 8th.]
This is the first of two videos taken from last night’s Royal Poinciana Neighborhood Association meeting. It was held at the Lake Worth High School’s Media Room. Candidates for the District #1 seat, Ryan Hartman and Vice-Mayor Scott Maxwell were there and gave about a ten minute overview of their backgrounds, point-of-views, achievements and the direction in which they want the City to head in the future. There were about 35 people there and it seemed at least half of the attendees were from other parts of the city.

Vice-Mayor Maxwell started off with an introduction. Some highlights include his mentioning of the Greater Bay lawsuit settlement at the 9:30 mark and at the 10 minute markhe talks about the 2020 Program and the road bond issue [in 2014] that failed to pass. Even though the result was 24 votes short of passage, he still seemed encouraged that a large number of people in Lake Worth were willing to tax themselves for needed infrastructure improvements. He and the City are in the hunt for various grant programs to help fund some longstanding needs for improved roads and other public infrastructure.

Candidate Ryan Hartman begins his introduction at the 12:30 mark. That is former Commissioner JoAnn Golden sitting with her back to the camera, to the right of the candidate. He started off by saying that he doesn’t like to talk to large groups, and prefers one-on-one conversations or small groups. He hoped that he had enough content to fill 10 minutes. He said that he would “talk slow.”

Hartman mentioned he studied Peace and Conflict studies at Naropa University. He mentions it was a process of “contemplative education” and, as an elected official, he would read things before voting on them. At the 15:15 mark we hear about his travels across North America. He said that while in Florida, he “met some people” who told him about Lake Worth and he gained an appreciation for it. He loves it here except for the government since the focus seems to be Lake Worth wants to be like “every other city” in south Florida.

He mistakenly claims that Vice-Mayor Maxwell has never had an opponent. This is probably something that they are saying at the doors, but Scott Maxwell has had challengers over the years. That’s at the 16:15 mark. As far as the length of time Mr. Hartman has been in Lake Worth, it will be two years as of February 1st.

That’s the introduction. When you have the time please watch the second video that has most of the Q&A portion. And as always, Thank You for visiting my Lake Worth blog.

[I hope you enjoyed this look back to early 2016. For more of my Lake Worth YouTube videos use this link to see the most popular all-time. To receive an email when new videos are uploaded click on the red “Subscribe” icon. By the way, this one is my personal favorite.]

Meet the candidates for District 2 and candidates for the Open Seat in District 4:

A race without an incumbent is referred to as an “open seat”.

See below for forum details.

The Parrot Cove Candidates Forum will take place tomorrow at The Beach Club located at the Lake Worth Golf Course (#1 7th Ave. North) at 7:00. For information about the Playhouse Forum on January 30th use this link.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Stay Tuned: Hear a Lake Worth Herald exclusive will be in next weeks paper about the Gulfstream Hotel. For the latest from City Attorney Glen Torcivia use this link.

Don’t forget, even though in poor health, it was Loretta Sharpe who first stood up 4 years ago to fight against THE BIG LIE about building heights in Lake Worth. Back in early 2012 THE LIARS got such a huge head start confusing the public that no one thought it was possible to get the truth out: excerpt for Loretta.

And it all started with rallying the troops, “The Hanging of the Banner” from the Gulfstream Hotel (see video below).

Here’s the short version of the story: I got a call from Loretta in January 2013 and she told me there was a meeting at her house, she lived on South Palmway at the time, and my attendance was mandatory. When Loretta told you to be somewhere you better be there. She had ideas to talk about: one of them was hanging a gigantic banner atop the Gulfstream Hotel to win the ‘heights vote’. Everyone thought she had lost her mind. Including myself. But Loretta’s idea was brilliant and everyone noticed. . .

Loretta Sharpe. November 4th, 1938–January 26th, 2016. Oh, and by
the way, Loretta got fined by the State of Florida for that banner. And
she paid it, all $200 of it, with pride and great fanfare. I recall she had a big party afterward. She was expecting a $500 fine I think.

One side in Lake Worth politics understands the value of time and campaigning all too well. The other side does too but they’re more inclined to fall into the trap: “Let’s talk”.

There are many people in this City genuinely interested and want to learn more about you as a candidate but there are others who will NEVER VOTE FOR YOU, EVER, no matter what you say or do. The problem is this: how do you tell the difference? It’s not easy.

One side has been using a devilishly clever tactic for many years now: the conversation “at the door” to bog down an opposition campaign. Here’s how it works, an example: The candidate (and this goes for the campaign volunteers as well) are canvassing a neighborhood:

Knock Knock

Door opens, “Hello”.

“Good afternoon. I’m a candidate for City Commission”.

“Wonderful. Can you tell me about [any current topic will do]?”

Then a conversation will ensue for 15–20 minutes, or even longer. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but what if this happens just 5 times a day? That is:

≈1½ hours a day for the candidate and each canvasser or ≈44 hours a month for each person in the campaign!

How many other people could have been contacted by the campaign in that time? A lot. So keep this in mind as you get those campaigns up and running especially if you’re up against someone with name recognition and that’s all they have to run on: train your people how to canvass properly. Stay tuned for more about this later on.

UPDATE: The “Cottages” home tour scheduled for January 29th IS SOLD OUT. From Facebook:

Congratulations to all involved in this years Cottages of Lake Worth
Home Tour, WE OFFICIALLY SOLD OUT THIS YEARS 2017 TOUR! We are
so excited to show you how hard we have worked!

On the subject of little houses, in this article by Coastal Livingyou’ll read about “6 Tiny Beach House Plans” for little houses our City of Lake Worth already has in abundance. And another thing to think about, for empty lots in cottage neighborhoods these plans could be used as ideas for new cottages in the future. There are also cottages that have fallen into such disrepair they’ll need to demolished at some point.

On the subject of little houses, have you seen “The Cottages of Lake Worth” hardcover book yet? To see “The Cottages” book. . .

Go Downtown and visit Andy at the City’s newsstand located at 600 Lake Ave. (corner of Lake Ave. and ‘L’ Street) or

Go across the street to the Cultural Council (open 10:00–5:00, Tuesday through Saturday).

At last year’s “2016 Cottages of Lake Worth” Tour the book was months from reality.